Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses. / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-02

Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses. / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-02

Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses. / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-02

acase@tulane.edu / All over the world, in countries both rich and poor, education is touted as a path to a better life – both for the individual and for the nation as a whole. Education is a process of improvement not just in subject knowledge, but in human capabilities. It is recognized as such a fundamental imperative that the right to free education is enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Although school enrollment rates in the developing world have shown steady improvement, there is growing concern that many children who do attend school are not acquiring the skills they need to raise their living standards. Millions of children with basic educations are still unable to read. Nationally, Ghana’s education indicators point to more successful education development than most of its West and Sub-Saharan African neighbors, but there is evidence that the quality of education provided, especially in rural areas, is quite poor. This research explores the significance of children’s work and school instructional environment as predictors of school participation and achievement of basic literacy (after controlling for relevant child, household, community, and macro factors) for children in agricultural households in the cocoa growing areas of Ghana. Children’s development issues in Ghana’s rural cocoa growing areas came under international scrutiny following reports in the early 2000s of widespread worst forms of child labor (WFCL) among children working in cocoa production, and children’s work is often believed to come at the expense of their education. The findings in this analysis suggest that the number of hours children in agricultural households in the cocoa growing areas of Ghana spend working reduces the probability of basic literacy (even after controlling for number of completed grades of schooling and other factors), although the magnitude of the effect for broader group of children was much more limited than that of the effect for the sub-group of children who had ever attended school. The findings also suggest that hours of work decrease grade attainment for the population under study. Poor teacher attendance was found to be negatively associated with achievement of basic literacy, while use of corporal punishment in the classroom and religious school attendance were positively associated with achievement of basic literacy. Religious school attendance, although reported by very few children in the sample, was also positively associated with number of grades completed. Additional research is needed to better understand the possible effects of school instructional environment on children’s school attendance and persistence. / 1 / Susan M. Dudis

The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) is a Small Island State (SIS) with 29 atolls and five islands, it is a geographically and logistically isolated region of the world that lacks infrastructure and social service delivery. The negative impacts of social change related to urbanization and loss of tradition are of concern. This thesis is an exploratory study, utilizing a capacity development framework, of the RMI’s ability to respond to social change issues. The objectives are; to characterize the current social change issues, to identify the current capacity of the government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to respond to social change issues, and to prioritize the gaps in government and NGO programming to address social change issues. Through qualitative methods the results identified that government and NGOs have an understanding of the root cause of social change issues, but lack capacity at the enabling environment and individual levels. / Richard and Sophie Hungerford Graduate Travel Scholarship

Product Development Public-Private Partnerships (PDPs) are mechanisms used to incentivise health innovation for neglected diseases. PDPs undertaking clinical trial research in developing countries work – collaborate – at the interface of innovation and healthcare activities. Within the literature around innovation systems collaborative activity is deemed to build important organisational processes creating stronger institutions and enabling environments by increasing knowledge exchange. This process capacity building activity is recognised as important in some areas of the international development arena within which health related PDPs work. Using qualitative research methods this thesis studies the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) in Kenya to consider how partnership collaborative activity occurs, the interaction created between healthcare and innovation and, what capacity building results. This is an interdisciplinary study that mixes innovation systems thinking with an ethnographic/ anthropological rationale. The Kenyan IAVI partnership takes multiple forms. It is an ‘effective’ partnership acknowledging benefits gained within unequal power relations making it impossible to also be a ‘true’ partnership. The partnership has characteristics of an innovation system because actors are conduits of knowledge. Collaborative activity creates knowledge exchange producing ‘process capacity’. This less tangible, knowledge based, and organisational related capacity takes place within the partnership but is not overtly recognised as important. Focusing on process capacity highlights the linkages between innovation and healthcare activities. It also highlights the importance of considering AIDS vaccine research activities in a holistic, systemic manner. Understanding the partnership requires recognition of activities and multiple relations across time and space. The Kenyan IAVI partnership is not simply the result of international (macro) level discourse and storylines regarding the need to incentivise product development. Recognising this complexity moves beyond value laden notions of partnership towards understanding what is required to strengthen developing country health and innovation.

Time is a highly significant element in the complex process of educational change. It bears on all the components of innovative projects. It influences decisions to embark on a particular change model or a strategy. And ultimately time affects adoption decisions. But in spite of such significance, world-wide experience of introducing innovative programmes shows frequent occurrence of time underestimation. This study attempts to explain the reasons behind the phenomenon of time underestimation in educational change. In the context of the Iraqi educational system, it appears that there are a number of reasons behind time underestimation in planning and implementing innovations. These can be grouped under two categories: economic and non-economic. The former explains the underestimation of time as a deliberate effort made by people in order to reduce the apparent cost of a lengthy process. The latter interprets the phenomenon by organizational, structural, or psychological factors. These include incomplete and weak situational analysis prior to introducing innovative projects, lack of coordination pertaining to prevalent work modes, predominance of a top-down change model the outcome of which is the absence of a feeling of ownership, lack of skilled and well-trained personnel, lack of clear-cut objectives and distinct features of projects, lack of dependable criteria for estimating the cost of projects, fear of accountability on the part of both the planners and the implementing bodies, lack of systematic and well-timed evaluation, and lack of interest or poor motivation. Currently, economic considerations of time in the education sector are gaining ascendency. The opportunity cost of time makes a strong case for an efficient utilization pattern of behaviour pertaining to time. And it appears imperative to base time estimation primarily on the cost that this entails.

No description available.

I apply complex systems thinking to investigate the inner workings of an innovative urban youth leadership program to reveal how development organizations can create an ecosystem to cultivate “change”. The global “youth bulge”, globalization, and a lack of opportunities leave young people without work and skills to survive in a complex world. New approaches, labeled social innovations, focus on finding transformative ways to solving systemic issues through financially sustainable, system-focused, holistic solutions. My dissertation entails a mixed-methods case study of a US-based development organization and program. I bring together trends in international development and youth development, complexity thinking, and the emergence of social innovations to examine how “change” can be cultivated. “Change” in this context refers to intentional advancement of individual capabilities, observed through the Capabilities Approach, and the concepts of “hard” and “soft” skills. The complex systems lens brings attention to the feedback loops (mechanisms), and how the elements and mechanisms come together to form an “ecosystem”. My findings explain how change happens through an ecosystem approach. The ecosystem consists of “Real Talk”, “Real Work”, and “Real Accountability”. These mechanisms work to reinforce each other to cultivate “leaderly” change in youth through a system of feedback loops. I introduce the term Leaderliness to capture the enhanced capabilities in the “soft skills” of self-confidence, interpersonal communication, self-efficacy, experience and understanding of a professional work environment. Specific individual cases of youth reveal the independent, unique experience that each individual pursues through the program. Diverse youth experience their own pathway to change, influenced by various personal factors. Diversity is an important element of the ecosystem, introducing differences for youth to learn from. Relationships encourage leaderly growth in youth, through interactions with peers and with Crew Leaders. The natural environment sets the scene, working to advance youth capabilities through the sun, heat, rain, insects, living plants. The cultivation of living plants in the hot, thick southern air provided meaningful, relevant work for youth. My research study contributes to the field of international development, social innovation and youth development, but also add to others looking to create positive a culture of “change”. / acase@tulane.edu

This report analyzes Small and Medium Enterprises and their use as a development tool. There is evidence to suggest that Small and Medium Enterprises can create jobs and offer wage premiums to employees. Because of these development benefits, in the last ten years, there has been a substantial industry built around supporting Small and Medium Enterprises in developing countries. The report examines the theory of change surrounding Small and Medium Enterprises and then explores the three main challenges that affect their growth and success: financing, human capital, and the enabling environment. For each challenge, the report examines how it affects Small and Medium Enterprises, solutions to the challenges, and the solutions' level of impact. Ultimately, the report offers a research agenda as well as policy recommendations for Small and Medium Enterprises in international development. / text